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Kobe breaks ground for expansion that is adding a total of 100 jobs

Thursday, May 16, 2013
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By the third quarter of 2014, Kobe Aluminum Automotive Products will grow to 325 employees as it finishes a $66 million expansion started this week.


Company President and CEO Susumu "Sam" Koike joked in his remarks that the company had considered using its extra property to install a driving range or a farm.


"I'm glad that we didn't build that farm," Koike said.


Like most companies, Kobe experienced a downturn in customers and production in 2009. In 2012, the company produced 3.2 million parts a year, twice as many as in 2009, he said.


Production this year is expected to top 3.9 million parts, grow to 4.4 million next year and be 5.7 million by 2015 in response to increased demand, Koike said.


The 229,000-square-foot facility has undergone multiple expansions, including a 45,000-square-foot, $11 million expansion completed earlier this year. That is the expansion Beshear was referencing.


Kobe, which has been in Bowling Green since 2005, was twice recognized by the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce for its commitment to the community. Most recently, it received the John B. Holland Business of the Year award.


Kobe's most recent expansion added 15 jobs, for which the company will receive $469,000 in state tax credits over 10 years. Today's announcement, at least initially, preliminarily qualified the company for $300,000 in sales tax rebates for the $7.7 million purchase of construction materials and building fixtures. The project will cost well more than the $7.7 million, but not all expenses are considered eligible expenses. It's expected that other tax incentives will be approved later this month based on the additional jobs that will be created.


Kobe, as of today, has 270 employees who help make forged aluminum products for the automotive industry.


Even without new jobs at the plant, the expansion is supporting jobs elsewhere in the community.


"Counting subcontractors, this will probably provide work for 100 to 150 people for four or five months locally," said Mike Murphy, president of Scott, Murphy & Daniel, which is completing the expansion project.


Murphy said his firm works on jobs within a 100-mile radius, so this project allows workers to stay closer to home.


 

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